Seven Years and Counting
by The Fox and Hen
Summary: Ever since the core members of Fairy Tail disapeared, their loved ones have been waiting, seven years and counting! Set during the Grand Magic Games, this is a story about perservering and going forward to grab what you really want. Warning! Will contain some spoilers! Rowen, Jerza, Nalu, and maybe some Gruvia will all be added in. If you like the story, Review it!
1. Chapter 1

Hello person reading this! This is a story set during the grand magic games. It's gonna be a little all over the place! Some RoWen, Jerza, Nalu, and possibly Gruvia will be added in. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

Romeo walked through the narrow, stone ladden hallways exasperated. Why was he doing this at all? Why should I care anyway? He thought. We all already know Wendy'll win. She IS a crazy strong dragon slayer after all. He remembered this with pride for his guild mate.

So what exactly was he doing this for? "Like she'd even care..." he mumbled. She already had a whole group of friends who would be cheering her on. Which included the amazing Natsu-nii, he thought with a little prickle of jealousy. No. This is NOT the time to be worrying about something like that, he decided. Where is she!? He sighed inwardly. That girl was as good at hiding as Natsu was at battling. Or Elfman at yelling "Man!" And that was saying something. All he wanted to do was wish her good luck! Was he really THAT mean earlier?

He kept truding along until he heard someone speaking. "Yeah, like you'll ever even come close! Fairy Tail's goin all the way!" Shouted a familar, fiery voice. Natsu! Maybe he knows where Wendy is! He thought, excited at getting to talk with his idol. "So sure? We're still in first ya know!" Retorted a frustrated sounding voice. "We all know Fairy Tail's winning this thing! And when you and me battle, I'll win too! That's what Fairy Tail wizards do!" Natsu told the other confidently. Romeo finally rounded the corner and spyed Natsu in heated coversation with... what was his name again? Stripe? Stark? Romeo tried his best to remember but eventually gave up. He walked up to the pair just as the blonde, who's name he couldn't remember, started shouting something at Natsu.

"There is no way in HELL you'll ever defeat Sabertooth, or me!" The young man looked like he was about to walk off, but there was no way Romeo was letting him get away with trashing Natsu-nii! Or Fairy Tail either! he rethought quickly. "Oi! Say that to someone who actually cares, blondie!" He screeched. Wow, I feel like Flare from Raven Tail. He thought. I think I remember that red haired girl saying some thing like that to Lucy. "Oh, so now you have five-year olds fighting your battles for you?" Sting jabbed. Natsu looked confused for a moment. "Huh? Are you halucinating or something Sting? Who are you talking about?" He asked, seeming genuinely curious. Oh! So it's Sting! Right, duh! He inwardly scolded his own bad memory. Wait. Did he just call me five?! "I'll have you know I'm twelve!...Sting!" He retorted. "Oh, Romeo when did you get here?" questioned Natsu. Romeo and Sting both felt rather exasperated and sighed outwardly at Natsu's obliviousness. "Well whatever! We'll settle this on the battle field! See ya later... flies!" Sting sneered and walked off. "Oi! Come back here you bastard!" Natsu screeched and was about to run after him, but turned to Romeo instead. "But seriously Romeo, where did you come from?" Natsu asked again. "Oh I... oh right! Hey Nastu, do you know where I could find Wendy?" he asked. Man, how did things get this off topic? He wondered. "Ah yeah, she's in the infirmary visiting... someone I think." Romeo instantly brightened and wondered why he didn't already check there as ran farther down the hall towards the infirmary.

He screeched to halt though when he remembered something. " Hey Natsu, you still there?" He called. "Yeeeaaaahhh!" Came Natsu's echoey reply. "Well, umm... thanks! And your'e gonna beat that guy, right?" He felt as though he already knew the answer. "Yep! I'm all fired up now, ya know?!" His voice became clearer as he ran towards where Romeo had stopped by the stairs. Romeo smiled and with fresh eyes remembered why he looked up to Natsu so much. "Heh. I knew you'd say that.- Eh? Natsu-nii, where'd you go"? Romeo looked around confused. Wasn't he just here? "Ughahhhh..." mumbled a pained voice. Romeo looked down the stairs, only to find Natsu lying in a heap at the bottom. Romeo just shook his head with a small smile on his face and started to laugh. Only Natsu... He thought as he walked down the stairs to help his friend, and find Wendy.

So I know it was kinda short, but I'm still working on ideas for this! I hope you enjoyed this... introductory chapter of sorts all the same! If you liked it, review it! Reviews are always appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

So I hadn't really been writing for this story because I had ideas, just not any good ones... But now I finally have come up a relitively well thought out next chapter! I hope you enjoy this! Don't be shy and tell me what you think! :)

As Romeo rushed down the dirt clad stairs, he worridly thought to himself. "What if I already missed her? What if she goes into the arena thinking I'm some jerk?" He could'nt stand the thought of Wendy hating him. Although he had admitted this to himself, he wasn't entirely sure why he felt like this. "You're not gonna miss her. She'll wait for you or something. And why would she think you're a jerk? I mean, you're pretty cool." Natsu declared. At first, Romeo swelled up with happiness when he heard Natsu say he was cool. Then he realized he had said his thoughts out loud.

"I... uh... I didn't mean to say that out loud..." he mumbled embarressed. They finally reached the end of the stairs and Nastu started, "Hay ya know, I don't mean to say half the things I say out loud." Romeo shrugged his shoulders slightly and nodded his head his head in agreement. Suddenly, a lot of the weird things Natsu-nii says make sense. He thought, satisfyied. They walked past some small glass windows and finally came to an large wooden door with a medical symbol engraved into it. Romeo walked up to it and knocked. "You can wait a minute, Wendy WILL be out eventually." Came Porlyusica's rough voice. Romeo wondered how she knew he wanted to see Wendy. "Uh, Romeo, I think I'm gonna go. But if Wendy IS mad at you, don't worry about it! Lucy gets mad at me all the time!" Natsu finished as he bounded down the hall.

Romeo was wondering how exactly THAT was supposed to make him feel better. He started to get bored of just waiting, so he turned around to look out the window. He watched as the anouncers and referees prepared the arena for Wendy's match. After the arena had been about halfway cleaned, he heard the heavy oak door starting to creak open. He turned around ready to rush into the infirmary, but was delayed when he crashed into a certain blunette. "Ahh!" She squeaked out in her tiny voice. "I'm so sorry! I- oh, Romeo-kun? H-hello." Romeo wasn't sure what to do. He had a number of issues he was battiling in his brain. 1) For some reason, SHE had just apologized to HIM. 2) She looked... adorable. Umm, yeah he just thought that. And 3) She also looked... scared. Of him.

Suddenly Romeo thought back to yesterday. He was sitting on the bed in his hotel room, the uncomfortable springs digging into his thighs. Then, Wendy had walked in. He knew they were sleeping in the same room so it wasn't a big deal or anything. Until she started talking to him. She asked if he was okay. He'd then proceded to yell that he was fine and she needed to stop sticking her nose where it didn't belong and get a life of her own. Next, she ran out of the room crying that she was sorry. Yeah. So... he hadn't been the nicest guy. Romeo was genuinely surprised that Carla hadn't slugged him. Really, he wasn't okay, not at all. He just didn't want her knowing that. And just like that, he was back in the present. "Wendy I- Okay look, I'm sorry about what I said yesterdsy that wasn't fair so I understand if you hate me now, but I've been looking all over for you and I really just wanted to wish you good luck in your match." By the time he finished, he was so out of breath he could hardly stand.

Romeo and Wendy just stood there awkwardly. He searched her eyes for any kind of resentment but instead found some sort of...warmth. What she did next totally caught him off guard. Wendy smiled big, threw her arms around him and pulled him in for a hug. "Thanks Romeo. And no, I don't hate you." She smiled again and ran off down the hall with even more energy then Natsu. If that was even possible. Romeo felt a little stunned. He walked up to the window again and saw all of Fairy Tail, all his friends, waiting for him in the bleachers. But maybe the feeling he had around Wendy meant... he wanted her as more than a friend?

Happy: He liiiiiikkkkeeeessssss her! Happy, I actually agree with you! :) So this was a little (maybe a lot) short, sorry! I kinda think I made Romeo sound super cheesy and dumb. Sorry. I feel like Areis. Anyway, if you are wondering what Romeo was upset about you're just gonna have to stay tuned! :) sorry, again, but I forgot to do this at the top sooo Fairy Tail is NOT mine, I own nothing but the idea for this story! Alright byyyyeeeee! ^_^


	3. Chapter 3

Soooooooooo I kinda need to just hi and thank you to all the cool people who actually read this story! I'm like, one person away from 200 views! I know this is pretty sad when compared to other writers, but it makes me happy! :) I just want to let everyone know that this story is going to change a lot of the things that happen in the GMG arc. Nothing particularly important or drastic but don't freak out and be all "ahhhh! That didn't happen!" After all, this IS a fanfiction. Anyway, onto the next chapter!

Natsu barrelled down the hall and up the stairs to get outside. When the fresh air hit his lungs he felt a new burst of energy. He really didn't like it down there. It was way too... wet and cold. It kinda reminded him of Grey. Maybe that's why he hated it so much! He walked along the top edge of the arena with renewed excitment. Wendy's match was going to start soon! He looked up as something tall and dark, along with a smaller hooded figure, whooshed past him. Natsu nearly toppled over the edge of the stone wall.

"Oi! Whatch where you're go'in!" Nastu bellowed. The smaller figure turned back towards him and said,

"Sorry Natsu!" Before hopping over the edge of the wall and disapearing. But not before he caught a glance of her strikingly pink hair.

"Meredy?" Natsu whispered aloud, dumbfounded. He assumed the taller figure was Ultear. But what the HECK were they doing here? Weren't the hy suppossed to be acting all ninja-ee and like, staying out of sight? Natsu shrugged it off, it wasn't any of his buissness. He ran along the stones, just as recklessly as Ultear and Meredy, and raced into the stands where Fairy Tail sat. No one noticed his arrival, so he took the opportunity to sneek up on Lucy, who sat in the back row. He creeped up behind her and just as he was about to grab her shoulders and scare her like crazy, Happy wailed behind him and butted his head into Natsu's back.

"Natsuuuuuuuuuu!,"Happy whined. "Where were you? I thought Lucy ate youuuuuu-!" Happy stopped mid wail when he saw Lucy's face.

"Oh no, I'd never eat Natsu. But I hear blue, winged, cats are delisious this time of year!" Lucy growled. Natsu laughed and noted her tone was a rather scary mixture of severe frustration and sarcasm.

"Ehehehe...," Happy laughed nervously. "You really should of gotten here sooner Natsu, Wendy's match started a minute ago!"

"Really? Already? Awesome!"Natsu squealed, rather girlishly, as his 'unable to scare Lucy' disapointment quickly changed to 'oh my god YES Wendy's getting to battle' excitement.

"Uh, yeah."Lucy replied and tried to stifle a laugh at Natsu's girly tone. They both turned to watch the match as Wendy was battered by Chelia with a powerful Sky God's Dance spell. Natsu watched with a fire starting to burn in his heart.

I hate seeing anyone of Fairy Tail hurt, he thought. But at the same time, beating a hard oponent, overcoming sure failure, it makes me excited. He felt as though he already knew Wendy wouldn't lose. So even as she flew back from the impact, Natsu smiled inside. Wendy wouldn't give up, he knew that for sure. Wendy twisted and threw Sky Dragon's Claw at Chelia. They both hit the ground hard and moved into the stance Natsu recognized as the one used for roars. They both shot their wind at each attacks danced together in the air and twisted around each other as if inspecting one another's power. Natsu could feel the magic coursing through the air. He looked over at Lucy, she seemed nervous, she kept biting her lip and having this weird expression come over her face.

I'd hate to see Wendy look over here now, he thought. With an expression like that, Wendy would feel likr Lucy thinks she's gonna lose. Maybe she does... a small voice whispered in his ear. He chose to ignore it. The two magics dispersed, revealing a flustered Wendy and an annoyingly unharmed Chelia. Chelia then announced to Wendy that she's... a god slayer.

Well this just got a little more personal for me, Natsu thought as he recalled that obnoxious fire god slayer, Zancrow. Wendy better beat this guy!... Girl. He decided. He watched as the two girls had a short, strange, apoligetic coversation.

I don't think I'll ever understand that. Most if the time I'm throwing insults at my opponents, not apoligizing for fighting them. He thought and shook his head, slightly confused. While the conversation seemed friendly, anyone could tell neither of them were going to give an inch in this battle. Chelia gathered her black wind and attacked once more with her Sky God's Dance spell. Wendy took the attack, digging her heels into the ground. Chelia and Wendy both began to consume the air around them, powering themselves up. As the arena lost some of it's air, Natsu began to feel slightly sick. After all, flames need oxygen to keep burning. Suddenly, Wendy called out an attack name strange to Natsu's ears. But he quickly realized it was one of the secret dragon slayor arts Grandine had ment to teach Wendy. The crowd became excited. Swift wind began to gather around Chelia. She was surrounded and battered from all angles by harsh and sharp air. She fell to her knees and kay on the ground for some time. It looked like she'd been beat. Instead of happy, Wendy seemed relieved when the referee came down and was about to declare her the winner. Natsu turned his head to look at Lucy and saw that she too, looked relieved. Unfortunately, it was only a few seconds of comfort for the two as Chelia picked herself up easily. Apparently, she had healed herself. Natsu recalled being in a similar situation. He had won. He hoped Wendy could too. Natsu became angry to find Chelia spouting nonsense about Wendy giving up. As if! He noticed just then that Lucy kept turning her head a bit, as if she were going to look at him but didn't. Then she turned her head all the way towards him, and Natsu saw something close to terror written in her expression.

"I just... I don't get it Natsu." She started. "Your'e always so...so stubborn! It's not fair! I'm always on the edge of my seat, wondering if I should put ANY belief into my team mate winning. I'm always worrying about whether or not they'll come back fom a battle alive! I can NEVER be happy they're fighting, even though that's a wizard's job! You never let yourself think for even a second that anyone of your friends could lose! It's so damn easy for you! How do you just seem to KNOW they'll be okay, how do you put so much belief into it? How the hell do you do it?" She asked bitterly. Natsu was taken aback. She sounded kind mad that he put faith in his team mates, but wouldn't (in this instance) him being stubborn about it be a good thing? That girl confused him to no ends. Though she seemed unusually upset. To him, believeing in his friends abilities came naturally. But he was pretty sure if he told her that it wouldn't help.

So instead he told her this. "I just try and remember what Igneel used to say, 'If you don't really believe in something, there's no way it will ever actually happen.'" This wasn't a TOTAL lie, but what Igneel was talking about didn't exactly pertain to this topic. And damn, where did that come from? I sound so freaking serious! He thought. Lucy seemed to slow down and give this some thought. She still looked kind of conflicted. Natsu felt like they were talking about more than what had been said. Next she surprised him again and laughed a little. Then she said,

"I think Igneel could be right..." She told him. Then Lucy smiled. And although Natsu wasn't feeling particularly down, it still made him feel better somehow.

"They TIED!" "Wendy totally won that though!" Happy screached angrily. Bringing him out of his trance. Wait. The match was over? I missed the match because of...

"Ahh! Lucy you made me miss the rest of Wendy's battle!"

Annnnnnd scene! I hope you enjoyed this, it was quite long coming from me. :) I'm really sorry if this was waaaaaaaaaaaay out of character and such... I found it really hard to write for Natsu, Lucy, and Happy but I tried my best. Review this please! Compliments and/or constructive critisism is always welcome! Until next time!


	4. Chapter 4

I'm sorry I haven't updated! Bah! I write only as ideas come to me! I'm lazy! Okay, so I kinda hated the last chapter. It didn't seem... right. Hopefully this one will turn out a little better. :) This one was going to be from Lucy's perspective... but she's in that group of characters that are really hard for me to write for. So instead I decided to... choose someone else. Enjoy!

Meredy and Ultear rushed through the stairwell and up out onto the stone slabbed walkway. They flew past an unsuspecting Natsu, and Ultear rammed into his shoulder nearly pushing him over the edge of the wall. He yelled out an indiginant complaint, and although Meredy wasn't the one who had hit him, she felt bad.

"Sorry Natsu!" She squeaked out before excitidly hopping over the yellowing brick, and out into the small woods that lay beyond the arena. She giggled to herself at Natsu's utter shock before Ultear turned around and gave her the, What-exactly-do-you-think-you-just-accomplished? look.

"We need to check out Jellal's information, not make small talk with Natsu." She gritted out, though there was an amused edge to her words.

"Hey, I'm not the one who nearly flung Natsu out into the middle of a match." She stated nonchaluantly. Ultear pursed her lips and gave a small shake of her head as if to say, what am I going to do with you? Meredy beamed. She never thought she 'd have the right to scold Ultear. It felt pretty cool. She thought about all the times Ultear had been her coach, and worked on training her as hard as she could. In those days, Meredy wouldn't think of even talking to Ultear much, let alone talk back to her.

"Come on, we really do need to get a move on. If Jellal would risk telling us at the arena, it has to be important." Ultear stated matter-of-factly. Meredy sighed; she knew that Ultear was right, she just wanted to have a little bit of fun with her. After all, Meredy was the youngest of Crime Sorciere. It's not like she ever really got to be a kid, what with her town getting destroyed, parents murdered and training in dark guild. She followed Ultear through the path they had carved out in the woods. It led down to the center of town, where they were supposed to meet an informant by a fountin. She walked along side Ultear, hood overher head in broad daylight. But it's not as if anyone was really there to see them, after all, everyone was at the GMG arena. They trodded on hard, cream stone to where a tall, broad-shouldered woman with dark wavy hair and a lip piercing stood. Ultear always did the talking anyway, so Meredy wandered off. She walked a little ways down a wide alley and stopped when she saw some sort of street peddler with blonde hair and dark skin talking to a passerby. Merddy watched, intriqued, as the dark skined man pulled out cards and asked the stranger to pick one.

"So he's a magician..." she whispered to herself. Then the blonde 's other cards started to float and form the shape of a five and a spade. The stranger looked shocked and when he turned over his card, Meredy saw it was a five of spades!

No, he's a mage! She thought excitidly, and bounded up to him. Meredy knew Ultear and Jellal told her not to asociate, but this kind of magic was new to her, and she wanted to learn about it!

"Hi! What kind of magic was that just now? It's very interesting. I've never seen it before." She asked him cherrily. He seemed slightly confused, then he relaxed.

"Hi. And thanks, it's called card magic. It's a bit too obvious of a name. Would you like me to show you a trick?" He offered quickly.

"I'd love that." She said shyly. She realized just now how she'd been far too friendly with this random mage.

At least he hadn't asked for my name, she thought, relieved.

"Great! Now, what did you say your name was?" He smiled at her, in an easy way, as if they'd known each other for years. Meredy sighed inwardly. She'd spoken, or thought, too soon.

"I didn't say. What's your name?" She countered, applauding herself for finding a way out.

"Ladies first." He narrowed his eyes at her slightly, a challenge of sorts.

Meredy sighed, she hated this. All she wanted was to learn about his magic and now he wants her life story? Meredy knew she was being melodramatic, but it made her mad that she couldn't share simple information like her name with this guy!

"It's Whitney." Now Meredy had done it! She'd gone and lied to a stranger whom she had no reason to lie to! The past seven years had made her wary, she guessed. The look he gave her in return made her feel as if he knew she was lying.

"I'm Sho." He said generally, as if he was letting everyone in the area know.

"Okay Whitney, what would ya like? The generic card trick you saw a moment ago? Or my specialty?" He seemed like he didn't care either way, as if to him, this was some boring, never ending, cycle of life.

"Well I've seen the 'generic' card trick dozens of times, and not just from you. Show me your specialty!" She requested excitidly. Sho raised one eyebrow at Meredy, then moved into what she guessed was some sort of stance. He whipped out a jokers card from no where, and in his hands it began to glow. Suddenly, Meredy felt herself shriviling, like a plant in the sun. She was being pulled towards the card! Lifted into the air by his strange magic, Meredy felt smaller and smaller until she whited out. When she opened her eyes, she was looking at the sky. Meredy tried to sit up, but there was something heavy and hard like a rock, but thin and smooth like paper holding her down.

"What is going on?!" She screeched, her voice eerily muffled. She began to feel the sensation of air in her face and realized she was moving upward. Still confused, she was now somehow standing. She looked upwards, and saw a gigantic version of Sho's face staring down at her. He laughed. Right in her face! It blew a wind laced with the smell of... morning breathe. Ew. Angry now and still rather flustered, she tried jumping at his face to hopefuly scratch his eyes out. Instead, she was met with a strange invisible wall. Meredy so wanted to use her magic, but she had already broken one too many of Ultear's rules. She would only use it if it was necesarry to escape.

"Don't worry, you'll be out in a minute." Called Sho's equally muffled voice.

"I better be." Came the reply edged with a totally demonic stink eye, and a silent threat usually reserved for someone stealing her candy. She watched, and experianced as she was pulled through the invisible wall and up out into the alley. She stretched her eyes wide and turned her head side ways in her best evil Ultear impression. It came out looking more like a chicken about to be slaughtered. She looked at him. He looked at her. Then they both burst out laughing. Honestly, Meredy didn't remember the last time she'd laughed, like, really laughed like this.

"Yes I know, I'm very bad with faces. You can stop laughing now. Okay, but seriously, what the hell was that?" She asked, gesturing to him and him cards. Meredy didn't really care that much anymore, but she'd made a big show of getting worked up, so she had to follow through. Meredy held on to her emotions tightly. They were so much a part of her, she felt like she had to have control over them. She would never let anyone know she didn't, she would never let go.

"I put you in one of my cards. I actually haven't used that one much! It turned out pretty well!" He informed her proudly. Meredy knew she would never understand men. What could he possibly be proud of? Almost trapping her in a 3 by 5 peice of card stock for eternity? Then suddenly, all of hell rained down apon Meredy's mind. She was bombarded by a mentally screeching Ultear, but thankfully no Jellal. He could be... over protective sometimes. Meredy heaved a deep sigh. She was actually enjoying herself...

"Sorry Sho... I uh... have to be somewhere. Thanks for the... magic show." She turned, gave a soft smile to herself, and began the treck towards the fountin.

"Wait!"He called, as if it were an unignorable command. "What's your real name?"

And just like that, she let go.

"...Meredy." Her name hung in the air like a cloud of smoke from a ciggerette. Only slightly toxic to those who breathed it in. The world seemed to soak up her voice, as she trodded out of sight.

Ohmehgerd! I love this pairing. 3 I hope you do too! I need to write more oneshots... they are much easier... I finished this at twelve in the morning because I felt like it. And my dog {Yes he sleeps in my bed,} wouldn't let me go to sleep for some reason. Ugg. Sleep. I need some! Please review! Hopefully the next chapter wil be done sooner!


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